Chinese Eyes

Confession. My first attempt at watching Yasmin Ahmad’s Sepet, couldn’t have lasted more than thirty minutes. I remember finding it droning. Possibly because the English irked me. There is no Manglish as an identity bullshit. Manglish is English mangled, spat on, stepped on and then worn as a badge of pride. And then there were so many languages thrown in in one movie. What is this movie trying to be?

That was what I believed. That’s who I was in 2004. And then I walked out of high school compound, away from the comfort of urban Chinese and shared cultural knowledge  — everything changed.

Yesterday I finally saw Sepet.

There was one scene in the hospital I vaguely remembered. Jason was telling his recuperating friend Ah Keong, about how his mother is Peranakan, and so she wouldn’t object him dating a Malay. Keong interrupts his history lesson on the diverse background of Peranakans, and because of that you think your mother won’t mind lah?

And then I couldn’t stop crying.

Mom was in a good mood that afternoon, so I sat her down and made her watch it. When it was over, I quietly thanked Yasmin Ahmad. And change is the word of the year. Change is also a goddamn process, but it’s alright.